Blood, Lace and a Pretty Little Killer
by Goshimonkey
Summary: While Katniss prepares for the Quarter Quell she must watch her competitors games, in which she is led to believe Cashmere is her greatest adversary. Cashmere's games from Katniss' POV.
1. Chapter 1

**KATNISS POV**

I sat there in the dark huddled on the couch watching various tapes of previous games. It was so much worse knowing who was going to win, knowing which one was going to come out and which ones were going to die. It was worse because you could see twenty-three children alive and smiling. Even if they were fake smiles, you could still see them. You watched them riding in the chariots, walking into their interview, standing on the platforms before their games started. It was worse because you couldn't help but watch them try to work an angle on the audience, whether it was sexy or smart and you knew that it was all in vain. Because they were destined to die; only they didn't know that. It was worse because I knew what they would have felt, I had been there and it was worse because I was going back.

It was her video that caught my eye; it had started out like the rest of the videos we had watched the opening titles much the same as the previous. Only for some reason the reapings were played in reverse, it started at District 12 and went down. District 12 was always the worst to watch because I knew they wouldn't live that they had no chance whatsoever. It was worse because every time I saw the children's face turn pale with shock, they're eyes widen with the realisation of their fate I could feel it I could relate to that because they were from home.

The reaping began I saw the capitol escort trot onstage I didn't bother learning her name she was just as ridiculous as the rest. "Let's see who the lucky lady is this year." The woman said, " Josephine Reed" the girl I saw next wasn't what I had expected. She was about sixteen years old with extremely long brown hair, she had one brown eye and one hazel eye which grew wide with the shock of what had just happened. As she began to walk it became obvious she was strong, extremely strong for someone living in District 12. I saw Haymitch on stage looking slightly less drunk and somehow his clothes were perfectly clean. He didn't say anything he just sat there in his chair staring at the ground lost in his own world. "Now for the boys" the escort said in a sarcastically happy tone. "David Jezabel" Again the camera focused on the crowd of children until it became obvious who the tribute was. He was tall and big and obviously not from the Seam, his jaw fell open and his face became full of pain before it hardened again probably remembering the cameras were on him. His shoes clicked against the pavement and his suit looked odd and out of place until he was on stage. That's when I realised who he was; because the Mayor was wearing the exact same one. He was the Mayor's son and it was obvious; the odds were not in his favour.

The rest of the reapings just fell into a blur, a few of the tributes stood out: a boy from 6 who had missing teeth and when he was chosen gave the biggest smile I had ever seen a tribute give, especially since he wasn't from a career district. A twelve year old girl from 9 with blonde hair put into two piggy-tails though if looks could kill the capitol would be dead. A girl from 3 who couldn't stop shaking after she was reaped and had to be helped by her fellow tribute into the Justice Building. A girl from 2 who reminded me of Clove with her intense stare and her long jet-black hair. The boy from 2 was like most of the boy tributes from 2, eighteen years old, strong and of course a volunteer. Then her reaping began, their escort was just as grotesque as the rest. He strutted across the stage to the podium though what he did was quite different. "Let's shake things up and start with the boys," he said with a beaming smile. "Sam Carlson!" The name barely was spoken before an extremely loud male voice boomed, "I volunteer!" The voice belonged to an eighteen-year-old boy who smirked at the crowd before strutting onto the stage towering over his escort who looked extremely uncomfortable. "And what's your name young man?" He said, "Tristan Leyton" the boy replied in a confident voice. I didn't like him at all he looked too confident for his own good, he had a permanent smirk on his lips as if he already had won and worst of all he was the spitting image of what Cato had looked like at his reaping.

"Now for the ladies." The escort quickly moved on. "Sunshine Kinman" the little girl in the front row had nothing to worry about. Immediately a hand shot up into the air followed by two other hands all who screamed I volunteer. They were all eighteen and in the same square. The girl who's hand shot up first let out a blood thirsty snarl at the other two looking them right in the eye causing on girl to take a step back and fall over the rope creating the barrier. "Lets try that again shall we?" The girl who snarled said in a fake happy voice. "I volunteer as tribute." This time no one challenged her, she smiled and began the walk up onto the stage. She was wearing a jet black tightly knitted long sleeve jumper, which was tight against her body along with a blood red extremely tight skirt and black boots. Her hair was long and blonde her eyes an emerald green the same as Glimmer's. She didn't bother for the escort to ask for her name she was obviously fed up with the way he was running things.

"Cashmere," she said, "Cashmere Diaspro."


	2. Chapter 2

**KATNISS POV**

I knew instantly she would win, I saw her name printed neatly on the label of the tape. Honestly I wasn't surprised I mean she looked lethal; even more so than the boy from 2. The way she managed to scare off two other girls who had volunteered with just one snarl, definitely made an impact. I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach knowing I would have to come up with a way to beat her, to kill her. Even if I died in the process at least Peeta would live.

The tape moved onto the entries on the chariots. District 12 was stuck with being miners again and unfortunately the costumes didn't quite fit right. Josephine ended up looking clumsy and awkward, while David looked like his mind was in another place. The little girl from 9 had her signature glare though her mouth was pulled into a smile. The boy from 6 with the missing teeth had a smile on his face though if you looked into his eyes you could see nothing but fear. The girl from 3, I think her name was Katherine, had finally stopped shaking. Instead she was on the verge of tears. Finally the tributes from 2 looked as intimidating as ever. However knowing they were both going to die defeated their purpose.

Cashmere and Tristan definitely stole the show. They were wearing white just plain white dress clothes. Cashmere then held up a shimmering silver bag, dipped her hand into it gave her signature smile and released cascades of glitter into the air. The glitter fell down onto both Tristan and herself and stuck to their clothes. Instead of the white dress clothes they were wearing just minutes ago the glitter shimmered with different colours in the light. Cashmere and Tristan wore extremely fake smiles, as they continued to throw the coloured glitter at the crowd, waving and blowing kisses.

I watched with nothing but pure hatred at President Snow's address to the tributes. Just seeing him on the screen seemed to make the room smell like the roses he wore and the blood on his breath. As I watched him on screen I remember him shaking his head at me in the Capitol. Telling me that all I did wasn't enough that any one I knew or cared about was in danger; and I couldn't do anything about it. I was in a similar situation to all the other tributes I was watching; they were all going to die and there was nothing they could do to change that. And it's all because of the Capitol. Because of the Capitol each year for seventy-four years, twenty-three children have had to die. And because of the Capitol twenty-three of the ones who managed to escape an almost certain death will die.


	3. Chapter 3

KATNISS POV

I knew what was next the individual training assessment. I remembered my own assessment and how the man fell into the punch bowl. Again like everything else on this tape the training sessions were done in reverse. Josephine was first, she was good for a girl from our district she could lift weights well almost as good as Peeta could. She could identify plants and set a few snares but nothing that was going to help her kill anyone. Josephine didn't look like that type of girl. David wasn't much use either again he set a few snares and poorly tied traps and tried his hand at spears, though it was obvious even to him his efforts were in vain.

The other tributes were all fairly useless; no one could do anything special. The little girl from nine came in and I actually thought she was going to launch herself at the gamemakers. Instead she used a small sickle to tear apart a few dummies. Satisfied with her work she went over to the plant identification station. I felt a smile creep its way onto my face, I knew the little girl wasn't going to win but I'm sure she was going to put up one hell of a fight. The next I noted was the boy from District seven despite his bleak appearance he was extremely fast and completed the obstacle courses faster than anyone else. The boy from six was good with the small knives, obviously he wasn't as good as the careers but he seemed to be able to pick up skills easily; judging by the way he cut up the dummies. Poor Katherine looked absolutely terrified when she came in. She spent the entire time at the camouflage station painting different types of backgrounds. The boy from two spent half the time lifting weights and the other half throwing spears. His intimidation act seemed so pointless and stupid to me; but that was only because I knew who was going to win. The girl who looked like Clove seemed to share the same sadistic smile as she used her crossbow as accurately as Clove could throw knives. Meaning she never missed. Tristan was utterly ridiculous, he spent half of his time smirking at the gamemakers and the other half of his time was spent using several swords to slice up a few dummies. Despite his obnoxious ways I knew he would still end up with a high score. Cashmere came in walking with her usual strut and brilliant smile. It was strange for a career but the first thing Cashmere did was the plant identification station. She then moved on to the more expected course of action. Her choice of weapon was the throwing knives. Cashmere was as good as clove if not a little faster, but for some reason I couldn't help but get the feeling this wasn't Cashmere's favourite weapon. The look in her sparkly eyes told me she wasn't satisfied throwing knives and her mind was wandering. She finished off with a bit of acrobatics, and with a few air kisses directed at the gamemakers she was excused.

I remember the way Glimmer acted before the games the same way Cashmere did; flirty, fun and a total airhead. Though it turned out Glimmer was as deadly as the rest and probably twice as smart. Who else would think of hiding a poison spike inside their district token? As I watched the Panem emblem cover the screen, the next segment was announced. The interviews; everyone's favourite part of the games. Where you can see who's ready to play the game and who's just scared out of their wits. Of course there are the odd one or two, such as, Johanna Mason who surprise you but other than that you can normally tell who is willing to kill. Just as the interviews begin I hear the incredible sound of the screaming Capitol fans and I focus all my attention on the screen before me…


	4. Chapter 4

All of them are there sitting and waiting for their turn to come. More than half look nervous and scared, while the careers look the same as they always do; proud, fierce and smirking like there's no tomorrow. Caesar looks just as ridiculous as I remember. This year his colour choice is a rather ugly almost glowing yellow. His hair, his nails and his suit all match while his shoes are a rather florescent green.

The camera focuses on each tribute just once, while Caesar introduces himself to the crowd. Poor Josephine and David are stuck in hideous black costumes that look far too big, and Josephine has the extra humiliation of having to wear a crown shaped to look like coal. The little girl from nine has her blonde hair done in high piggy-tails and is dressed in a fluffy pink dress to make her look cute. Unfortunately this just makes her steely glare look out of place and a little sadistic, I wonder if this was the angle they were going for. Caesar begins with Cashmere; she struts onto the platform to join Caesar winking and blowing kisses to the crowd. How she can manage to do that without falling over from the ridiculously high shoes she's wearing I'll never know. As Caesar starts with the usual small talk, I notice what Cashmere is wearing. It looks as though she's completely covered in diamonds; only she's wearing a dress. The dress itself is extremely short, barely covering her butt. The dress has long sleeves, with an extremely low-neck line; I assume their aiming for the provocative angle this year. What a surprise, I think. With her hair curled and a crown of extremely large jewels, Cashmere answers every question with a seductive purr or a flirtatious giggle. Until Caesar asks about her brother, and I see her eyes flicker from the fake bubbly personality to the vicious person I know she is. "I love my brother more than anything," she says and I know the feeling. Even now, when I'm about to risk my life, I'm worried about Prim. "He taught me everything I know, together we'll be the perfect pair of victors," she finishes with a signature career smirk. Only this time it suits, because it's true; they will be. Caesar moves on to another question asking her about her strategy for the game, she replies in a rather snobbish way, "A District 1 lady never reveals her secrets." I see the look in her eyes as she answers Caesar; she looks so determined and proud. The buzzer goes and Cashmere stands up curtsies gracefully and struts back to her seat, while her District partner is being introduced.

Tristan spent his entire interview boasting his skill and smirking at the crowd. It was expected of career districts, though I saw Cashmere in the background. She looked annoyed and irritated by her district partner's stupidity. She knew as well as I did that the District 2 careers scored higher than they both did. After Tristan's interview came the pair from District 2. The girl spent her interview sighing and being incredibly rude. When Caesar asked her what her plan was for the games she replied, "Do you want me to tell you a secret." She leaned in close, the audience fell quiet and Caesar looked at her waiting for her answer. Her answer came in the form of a piece of pink bubble gum, which she blew and popped in Caesar's face. She laughed as if it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen and then was excused by the buzzer. The District 2 boy was glad to tell the audience about all the different ways he was going to kill the other tributes. Katherine, from District 3, spent most of her interview between tears and showing the audience how smart she is. The boy from 6 said he was looking forward to experiencing the thrill of killing someone with his own hands. Then spent most of the interview smiling his sadistic smile. The girl from District 9 looked like she was about to attack Caesar right then and there. Her name turned out to be Nova and apparently her aunt competed in the games and lost to a boy from District 2 called Brutus. The name sounded familiar and then I remembered he was the volunteer for the Quarter Quell. Another victor I would have to compete against. Nova said she planned to follow her aunt's example and try to survive as long as possible. Josephine's interview didn't go very well; unfortunately for her she seemed very awkward and vacant. David's was much better; he was very much like Peeta in his interview. No doubt he had some social skills being the Mayor's son and was extremely formal when speaking to Caesar. The interview closed with the tributes walking off stage and Caesar's final goodbyes. Now it was time for the games to begin…


	5. Chapter 5

The next image on the screen is of Cashmere and Tristan being led into their preparation rooms. Then the rest of the tributes follow each time they pass the other tributes rooms. The rooms have a glass wall, obviously the tributes on the inside can't see out. I feel bad for David and Josephine they had to see every one of the other tributes being prepared for the games. I saw the tributes from the outer Districts looking up at the careers half with awe the other half with fear. The careers didn't seem to notice though Cashmere had figured out the trick of the glass and stared at the other tributes with a smirk on her face and a steely glare.

The Capitol crest appeared on the screen then faded to the arena. The tribute hadn't arrived yet but on the screen I saw the cornucopia gleaming in the sunlight filled with all the supplies. That was the problem for the tributes all of the supplies were in the cornucopia there were no supplies on the outside edges and that meant that everyone would be competing in the bloodbath if they wanted to survive the first few days. The cornucopia was surrounded by dark green grass covered in white flowers. There were so many you couldn't see the grass until after the platforms where the tributes would stand. Past the platforms the land fell creating a small valley and the rest of the arena as far as I could see was covered in pine trees. A map of the arena then appeared on the screen. There were a few rivers though only one main supply of water in a large lake just past the valley.

When the map faded the screen returned to the cornucopia only this time the tributes had just arrived most of them now taking in the arena. Each of the careers looked at one another then focused on the cornucopia. Cashmere was standing directly opposite the mouth of the cornucopia her eyes darted as she took in the supplies. As the count down began I could see she touched her District token a ring with multiple coloured stones. Standing next to her was the District 5 boy and the District 8 girl. Both eyed Cashmere carefully knowing standing next to a career didn't put the odds in their favour. Everyone had already accepted everyone would be competing in the bloodbath. With 10 seconds left Cashmere quickly pulled two stones of her ring and threw them at the base of the platforms surrounding her. The boy from 5 and the girl from 8 didn't have time to react before they were blown sky high. I couldn't believe what she had done. What was the point? I had never seen anyone do anything like that and obviously no one has done it since. She's very smart bending the rules. The rule for district tokens is that it can't be a weapon. Unlike Glimmer's ring hiding the poisoned spike, Cashmere's ring was just a ring. Very clever though the point of blowing up the two tributes was unclear until the bloodbath began to unfold.

The sight was enough to distract everybody, giving Cashmere her opportunity. She sprinted for the cornucopia before anyone else realised what was happening. She was the first to reach the cornucopia followed quickly by the rest of the careers who were obviously in on the plan. The boy from 6 laughed at the sight of the two tributes being blown up and instead of heading into the bloodbath went straight down the hill and into the valley. The girl from 3 Katherine had managed to stop crying long enough to make it to the cornucopia. Where she snatched a box and ran off behind the cornucopia using it as a shield from possible weapons being thrown at her. Nova also managed to make it to the back of the cornucopia and instead of making it round to the front climbed onto the top and watched the bloodbath unfold. Smart girl I thought to myself wondering what her strategy is going to be. Josephine and David both sprinted for the cornucopia unfortunately Cashmere had already gotten a hold of the weapons, as had the rest of the careers. They were on their way to forming a barrier when most of the tributes had just reached just over halfway to the cornucopia. David was Cashmere's first victim before he realised what was happening there were knives in his chest, stomach and head. He fell backwards and onto Josephine who was right behind him. Josephine stayed still under David the amount of blood falling onto her not fazing her at all. Other tributes started to fall from either Cashmere's knives or the other careers weapons. The rest of the career's seemed to wait for the tributes to reach them before they began to fight. A few lucky ones managed to gain some supplies and make a dash for it. Though Cashmere satisfied no one was coming her way walked into the cornucopia and began sorting through the rest of the weaponry and the food. This is when Josephine made her move. Using David's dead body as a human shield form possible attacks she ran for the cornucopia. She snatched up a massive pack, a long knife, a short knife, a small bag of apples and a loaf of bread. On her way out she placed David's body on the back of her pack and on her escape she threw the bag of apples and the loaf of bread up at Nova who thanked her with a smile.

The end of the bloodbath was signaled with the first cannon. Cashmere came out of the cornucopia with a report to the rest of the careers what they had gained. While the cannons sounded the careers went either to check over the supplies or to check over their kills. Cashmere went over to he tributes she killed. The camera zoomed out the once white flowers now stained completely red with the exception of a patch of white where Cashmere was standing. She kneeled down and pulled out the knives she had used and then carved onto the tributes foreheads her initials. After she had finished her exercise the hovercraft came and collected the dead bodies. The careers spent the rest of the day discussing what their plan should be and equipped themselves with all the weapons they could find. They decided to scout the area. The District 4 boy came back reporting he had found the lake and it was agreed they would move base camp there tomorrow.

Katherine the girl from 3 stumbled upon a small cave close to the lake where the careers would set up camp. The moss growing on the walls was edible and Katherine settled there and spent the rest of the afternoon between crying and looking at her box.

The boy from 6 continued walking deeper into the forest on the opposite side of the arena to the careers. In the afternoon he found two rabbits, which he killed by snapping their necks. He continued walking his two rabbits in hand and when the fake sunset began he made a small fire, which he covered with rocks and cooked the rabbits on the hot rocks. He then scaled a strong pine tree and settled down for the night.

Nova spent her day on top of the cornucopia trying to silently eat some of the bread and apples Josephine had given her. She listened to the careers plans and when they scouted the surroundings hopped down and gathered a small pack, two knives and some rope and travelled into the forest area away from the lake. She managed to meet up with Josephine and the two seemed to have joined in an alliance. I am silently proud of Josephine for helping out Nova. They reminded me of myself and Rue and our short-lived alliance. I could only hope that Josephine's and Nova's lasted a little longer.

Most of the other tributes spent the day taking in their surroundings, going through the few supplies they had managed to gather and trying to find more food. By the time night fell everyone had settled down to try and sleep through the night.

The anthem began and the faces of the fallen tributes began to appear in the sky. The first face to appear was the girl from 5 that Cashmere had blown up. The careers laughed loudly as they made fun of how pathetic the girl was. The boy from 5 followed, then the girl from 6 and then it skipped straight to the girl and boy from 7. The careers agreed the boy from 6 cold be a threat, though Tristan boasted that he would kill him. Cashmere rolled her eyes at her District partner's comment and focused her attention on the sky. The girl and boy from District 8 were followed by the boy from 9 and the girl from 10. Cashmere noted to the others about Nova. The District 2 girl apparently called Piper laughed at Cashmere saying only a fool would think that a little girl was a threat. Cashmere smiled and said, "Well then Piper it won't take much to kill you then will it?" The District 2 boy smirked and Piper's face went red. Both from District 11 managed to survive and the last face to appear that night was David's. The screen then faded black and 'End of Day 1' appeared on the screen. How many days left I wondered…


End file.
